Going Grain Free Today

[srall]

Today I'm making the leap to grain free. I'm going to at least give it a try for the next 5 weeks. I still have some inflammation in my joints, and sinuses and a little rosacea that shows me I'm still eating things that are causing too much inflammation in my body. I've been a little nervous to do this because I'm still underweight and I'm hoping I can get enough calories. But my biggest concern is the cravings. When I gave up gluten and dairy I did have cravings. I remember shaking as I would scoop my daughter some ice cream, but it wasn't really that hard to avoid these things because I really did feel very sick when I ate them. Now I feel pretty good, I'm just trying to take this to a higher level to see if I can improve my health even more.

So...how many weeks of craving? How long until I see benefits? I'd love to hear positive stories...although I've been reading a lot your positive grain free stories for weeks which has helped this decision along.

Okay...now to go make my salmon and green beans.

[Evangeline]

Today I'm making the leap to grain free. I'm going to at least give it a try for the next 5 weeks. I still have some inflammation in my joints, and sinuses and a little rosacea that shows me I'm still eating things that are causing too much inflammation in my body. I've been a little nervous to do this because I'm still underweight and I'm hoping I can get enough calories. But my biggest concern is the cravings. When I gave up gluten and dairy I did have cravings. I remember shaking as I would scoop my daughter some ice cream, but it wasn't really that hard to avoid these things because I really did feel very sick when I ate them. Now I feel pretty good, I'm just trying to take this to a higher level to see if I can improve my health even more.

So...how many weeks of craving? How long until I see benefits? I'd love to hear positive stories...although I've been reading a lot your positive grain free stories for weeks which has helped this decision along.

Okay...now to go make my salmon and green beans.

I went grain-free 3 weeks ago. If you have joint inflammation, I also suggest you give up nightshades which is another common Celiac intolerance. Nightshades are well known to cause joint inflammation. Nightshades are tomatoes, potatoes, all peppers (except for black pepper and white pepper) and eggplant. I gave these up 2 months ago. As for cravings, you should see if the Whole Foods near you sells Fat Cat's Plantain chips. They are a great substitute for potato chips if you give up nightshades.

As for grain-free cravings: I make french fries at home out of sweet potatoes. I also make a strawberry "milkshake" (no dairy!) in the blender (1 cup of frozen strawberries, 1 ripe frozen banana, 1/4 cup almonds, 1/4 cup cashews, pinch of sea salt, 2 tablespoons honey and 1 cup frozen ice cubes. Put in blender and voila. If you are a Celiac who can eat chocolate, I suggest you get raw cacao from a health food store (its raw chocolate) and use one tablespoon of cacao instead of 1 cup strawberries for a chocolate smoothie. It hits the spot .

I have been eating salads with creamy cashew dressing (just like dairy) so I am not missing dairy or craving grains. I make the creamy dressing in my blender (cashews, garlic, black pepper, sea salt, water).

I am on day 20 and am noticing improvements. I would say I am 70-80% better. I have heard it can take up to 2 months to completely heal.

REMEMBER: If you go grain-free you need to stop taking ALL supplements that are not labeled corn-free and rice-free. I forgot about that part .

[domesticactivist]

Good luck! My best advice is to get a lot of saturated fat into your diet, and to eat larger portions of meat than you used to. Don't try to make up your calories in sweets, it'll just make you feel like crap.

[srall]

Great advice. I'm stopping refined sugar too. Although I hardly eat any so I'm not too terribly worried. Mostly the carb cravings that scare me. I'm sitting at my computer right now and I did research the GAPS diet. That seems more do-able to me that SCD. There are a lot of foods on SCD that mess with me, but GAPS seems like most of the banned foods are already out of my diet. Thanks for the encouragement. Day 1 and I'm already freaking out a little. *sigh*

[domesticactivist]

Yup. I agree re: GAPS vs SCD.

My best advice with that is to take the intro slow - don't just jump into the full diet.

1. Make lots of stock

2. Have lots of veggies you can eat on hand

3. If you don't have lots of meat on your bones (the ones in the stock, lol), add muscle meats in right away, just make sure you cook them a long time in your stock

4. Drink more water - eating soup makes you feel like you are getting lots of water but if you've done your soup properly it's actually mostly protein!

5. The cravings WILL go away. Have faith!